Series: The New International Commentary on the Old Testament

The book of Lamentations is one of the most vivid representations of grief and trauma in the Hebrew Bible. Written in the wake of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian Empire, it is comprised of five poems of twenty-two stanzas each, in a manner of tight formal unity unparalleled by any other work in the Scriptures. 

In this volume, widely respected Old Testament scholar John Goldingay analyzes these and other aspects of Lamentations while keeping a constant eye on the book’s meaning and use as Christian Scripture. After a thorough introduction that explores matters of background, composition, and theology, Goldingay provides an original translation of the book from the Masoretic text along with verse-by-verse commentary.

Table of Contents

Introduction
          1. Background
          2. Unity of Composition
          3. Authorship and Date
          4. Occasion, Place of Origin, and Destination
          5. Canonicity
          6. The Hebrew Text
          7. Theology
          8. Main Themes and Their Implications
          9. Analysis of Contents
Text and Commentary
          Lamentations 1: Is There Pain Like My Pain?
          Lamentations 2: He Poured Out His Wrath Like Fire
          Lamentations 3: Perhaps There Is Hope
          Lamentations 4: He Lit a Fire in Zion
          Lamentations 5: Be Mindful, Yahweh